During the design and launch of a new vehicle, the integration and validation of electronic components that utilize serial communications, i.e., that sequentially transmit data one bit at a time over a communications channel, can be a challenging task. For example, a low-current ignition switch uses such serial architecture during the start and stop of the vehicle engine. The position of the ignition switch is typically detected and communicated to all electronic modules aboard the vehicle over a serial data link(s), normally by way of a power mode master (PMM) or a body control module (BCM) that automatically monitors and updates the ignition switch position in cycles of less than approximately 25 milliseconds.
During vehicle launch, engine start/stop is a state or condition that at times can be linked as a potential trigger event for certain vehicular electrical system failure modes, modes that are quite often highly intermittent and difficult to isolate and diagnose. Investigation teams are ordinarily assigned to identify the root cause of any failure modes during vehicle development. With respect to highly variable ignition switch activation times, electrical benches and/or test vehicles can be subjected to a series of repetitive ignition cycles in an attempt at reproducing the failure mode.
Interaction of onboard serial data communications systems and diagnostic software during initialization can sometimes induce failures that can be particularly challenging to diagnose and isolate due to their highly intermittent nature. Normal vehicle validation processes and timelines allow for only a limited number of ignition test cycles, thus making such conventional diagnostic and validation methods less than optimal.